Escutcheon plate



July 3, 1962 1 ,J PANTAs I 3,041,720

ESCUTCHEON PLATE Filed April 5, 1960 INVENTOR.

LEO J. PH /774$ United States Patent G 3,041,720 ESCUTCHEON PLATE Leo J. Pantas, Riverside, Conn., assignor to The Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Apr. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 20,107 3 Claims. (Cl. 29--556) This invention relates to the manufacture of escutcheon plates for the knobs of door locks.

During the past decade there has developed a very large demand for decorative escutcheon plates for use with cylindrical or tubular locks. The manufacture of escutcheon plates of a variety of different designs necessarily poses problems of cost as each new design re quires a new set of expensive tools and dies. In many instances the set of tools and dies may be used only a few times, as the particular design may turn out not to be saleable. Furthermore, in order to make a proper assessment of the value of a particular design and its possible success in the market, it is necessary to provide sam ples showing the construction and configuration in full detail to provide a proper visual presentation of the design. This, of course, is also expensive.

This problem of the cost of producing a variety of escutcheon plates of different designs is one of long standing which has remained without solution until this time. The present invention, however, provides a solution to this problem in that it allows escutcheon plates of many different designs to be manufactured with very little tool and die expense, and which, furthermore, allows a visual appraisal to be made of the finished design without the necessity of actually manufacturing samples of the escutcheon plates. 7

In accordance with the invention, the finished, but unplated base metal hollow-ware articles that are prepared by silversrniths in the manufacture of silverplated hollowware are used as the raw material from which the escutcheon plates are manufactured. Silversmiths manufacture various hollow-ware articles, such as bowls, trays, plates, etc. in various shapes and designs. These articles are shaped from a base metal, such as brass, and then silver-plated. Since there is almost an endless line of such hollow-ware articles available from Silversmiths throughout the country, there is always a vast inventory of available designs from which escutcheon plates may be manufactured in accordance with the invention.

To convert an unplated hollow-ware article as obtained from the Silversmith to an escutcheon plate, an embossed upstanding portion is formed in the bottom of the hollow-ware article, a central part of the embossed portion is depressed substantially to the level of the bottom of the hollow-ware article, and a circular hole formed in the depressed portion with notches extending from the edge of the hole. By thus using the previously formed hollow-ware article as obtained from the silversmith to form the escutcheon plates, all costs for tools and dies, except for the simple embossing, hole-forming and notching tool, are eliminated. Furthermore, it is possible through a simple glance at the hollow-ware article furnished by the Silversmith to determine immediately without cost just exactly what visual impression the final design will have.

The escutcheon plate so formed may be easily held assembled to the lock and door by the use of the conventional annular rose of a cylindrical lock which is adapted to be secured to the lock housing. When so assembled, the conventional rose seats in the depressed portion with the prongs of the rose extending into the notches of the escutcheon plate to prevent relative rotation between the escutcheon plate and the rose. In this manner, escutcheon plates of various designs may be used interchangeably with a standard lock set.

The invention and itsadvantages having been broadly described, a more detailed description is given hereafter by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an unplated hollow-ware article as obtained from a silversrnith;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the hollow-ware article of FIG. I converted into an escutcheon plate in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 5 is an edge view, partly in section, of a door incorporating a cylindrical lockset, and showing how the escutcheon plate of FIG. 3 can be'mounted on such a lockset;

FIG. .6 is a rear perspective view of the rose of the lockset' of FIG. 5, showing the prongs and centering lugs of the rose;

FIG. 7 is a partial rear perspective view of a slightly modified form of the escutcheon plate which incorporates prongs to help prevent rotation of the escutcheon plate relatively to the door; 7

FIGS. 8 and 9 are plan views of two other styles of hollow-ware articles which may be obtained from a Silversmith, and which may be converted to escutcheon plates in accordance with the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an unplated, hollow-ware article 10 as obtained from a silversmith. The particular article 10 is in the form of a shallow tray or container of the type which when silverplated is commonly sold for use in the home to hold calling cards, or other articles; While the invention will be described hereafter in connection with the article 10, it will be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable to any one of a vast number of hollow-ware articles, such as bowls, trays, etc., which may be obtained in a variety of styles and designs from silversmiths. Two other designs of hollow-ware articles, designated by the reference numerals 11 and 12, are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 merely to give an idea of other styles and types of hollow-ware articles which may be obtained from silversrni-ths, and to which the invention may be applied.

The hollow-ware articles, such as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9, are formed by silversmiths from a base metal such as brass, and are then silverplated and polished to form the finished article. In accordancewith the present invention, the unplated, but otherwise finished, hollowware article as obtained from a Silversmith is utilized as the raw material from the which the escutcheon plate for a door lock is formed. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hollow-ware article 10 of FIG. 1 is easily converted into an escutcsheon plate 10a by forming an embossed upstanding annular portion 13 in the bottom of the hollowware stamping, depressing a central portion of the embossed portion to form a depressed portion 14, and forming a circular hole 15 in the depressed portion, with notches 16 extending inwardly from the edge of the hole. As shown in FIG. 5, the escutcheon plate 10a so formed may be easily held assembled to a conventional cylindrical lockset 17 and door 18 by the use of the conventional annular rose 19 which is provided with such a cylindrical lockset. The rose 19 is threaded on to an extension 20 of the lockcasing, or otherwise secured to the lock casing, and the escutcheon plate 10 is clamped between the rose 19 and the door. When so assembled, the rose 19 seats on the depressed portion 14 of the escutcheon plate 10a, and the usual prongs 21, best shown in FIG. 6, of the rose 19, which are normally pressed into the door to prevent rotation of the rose 19, extend into one pair of seen in FIG. 6, centering lugs 22 are also providedbn the back of the rose 19. When the rose 19 is assembled on the door 18, the centering lugs extend through the circular hole 15 in the escutcheon plate a and into the hole bored through the door thereby to center the rose 19 and the escutcheon plate 10;: relatively to the hole through the door.- It will be appreciated that by this manner of installation any number of styles and designs of escutcheon plates may be substituted for the escutcheon plate 10a without modification of the lockset.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is shown a slightly modified form of escutcheon plate 10b which may be formed from the hollow-ware article 10 of FIG. 1. In this modification the metal from the notches 16 is bent back and utilized to form prongs 23 which extend from the back of the escutcheon plate. When the escutcheon plate 1% is assembled on a door these prongs 23 may be pressed into the door to provide further resistance to rotation of thejescutcheon plate relatively to the door.

It will be appreciated that the hollow-ware articles 11 and 12, shown in FIGS. ,8 and 9, as well as any of the other various types of styles and designs of hollow-ware manufactured by silversmiths may also be converted into escutcheon plates in the manner described in conjunction with the hollow-ware article 10. It will also be appreciated that by forming escutcheon plates from hollowware articles as obtained from silversmiths, all costs for tools and dies, except for a simple embossing, hole forming and notching tool, are eliminated. At the same time the escutcheon plate manufacturer is in a position to ofier escutcheon plates in an almost unlimited variety of styles and designs. Furthermore, the escutcheon plate manufacturer does not have to make samples of new article to form a plane surface substantially parallel to V designs to determine what visual impression the final designs will have, as it is possible through a simple glance at the hollow-ware articles furnished by the Silversmith to determine immediately without cost just exactly what visual impression the final designs will have.

While certain forms of the invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated that'changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I new claim:

1. A method of forming a decorative additional escutcheon for the knob of a door comprising, providing a previously formed silversrniths relatively shallow hollow-ware article of the type having a flat bottom forming both the bottom of the containing portion of the article and the base on which the article is intended to sit, forming an embossed upstanding portion in the bottom of the article, depressing a central portion of said embossed 4 portion substantially to the level of the bottom of the article to form a plane surface substantially parallel to the'b'otthn'i of the hollow-ware anieiejfamngnnainr hole through a center portiorfof said depressed portion so as to leave a depressed annular seat in said depressed portion surrounding said opening; and forming notches in the edge of said annular seat extending inwardly from said hole? l 2. A method of forming a decorative additional escutcheon for the knob of a door comprising, providing a previously formed silversmiths'relatively' shallow hollow-ware article of the type'havin'g a fiat bottom forming both the bottom of the containing portion of the article and the base onwhich the article is intended to sit, forming an embossed upstanding portion in the bottom of the article, depressing a central portion of. said embossed portion sub'stantially to the level of -the bottorn'of the the bottom of the hollow-warearticle, forming a circular hole through a center portion of said depressed portion so as'to leave a depressed annular seat in said depressed portion surrounding said opening, forming notches in the edge 'of the said annular seat extending inwardly from said hole, and forming prongs extending from the back of the escutcheon.

3. A method of forming a decorative additional escutcheon for the knob of a door comprising, providing a previously formed silversmith's relatively shallow hollow-ware article of the type having a flat bottom forming both the bottom of the containing portion of the article and the base on which the article is intended to sit, forming an embossed upstanding portion in the bottom of the article, depressing a central portion of said embossed portion substantially to the level of the bottom of the article to form a plane surface substantially parallel to the bottom of thehollow-ware article, forming a circular hole through a center portion of said depressed portion so as to leave a depressed annular seat in said depressed portionsurrounding said opening, forming notches in the edgeofjthesaid annular seat extending inwardly from said holeby providing spaced cuts in the edge of the annular seat and bending the portion of the annular seat between the cuts outwardly from the bottom, and form-' ing prongs from the outwardly bent portion between the cuts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thompson Feb. 1, 1949 

